Posted: Monday, July 25, 2022
Michael E. Jones, PhD, of The Institute of Cancer Research, Sutton, United Kingdom, and colleagues performed a national case-control study in England and Wales to determine the potential relationship among breast cancer risk in men, infertility, and the number of children fathered. Published in Breast Cancer Research, these data suggest that infertility may increase the risk of breast cancer in men, although more research is needed to provide a clear consensus.
“Infertility can result from a wide range of factors, including genetic, congenital anomalies of the genitourinary tract, other anatomical reasons, and sexual dysfunction, but most cases are idiopathic,” mentioned the study authors. “However, [the] number of children beyond one is difficult to interpret as an indicator of male fertility, since it may more reflect social and cultural factors than fertility per se. The same is true for age at first birth.”
This study focused on 1,998 male patients with in situ or invasive breast cancer and 1,597 male controls. Cases were identified from clinician reports and comprehensive listings from national population-based cancer registries. Participants were administered a structured questionnaire on infertility and offspring, and assigned nurses obtained blood or saliva samples for genetic analysis.
Ultimately, the risk of breast cancer was statistically significantly associated with infertility of the male partner (odds ratio [OR] = 2.03) but not if the infertility originated from the female partner (OR = .86). Of note, the risk was raised significantly among men who did not father any children when compared with men who had at least one child (OR = 1.50). Furthermore, it is noted that these correlations were statistically significantly present only for tumors that were invasive and not for those that were in situ.
Disclosure: The study authors reported no conflicts of interest.